It seems Vodafone is not the only operator to get its claws out in a timely manner as Orange becomes the second operator to offer the iPhone in the UK, as 3 has revealed - on the day of the Orange iPhone launch - it has put in a formal complaint to the ASA about Orange's new advertising campaign.

While Orange and O2's price plans for the iPhone are very similar, it seems Orange is hoping to appeal to consumers on the strength of its 3G network with a new ?4 million "You're Covered" advertising campaign.

However, 3 is taking issue with Orange's claim that its 3G network "currently covers over 93% of the UK population - more than any other network", and has asked Ofcom to put measures in place for a more consistent way to of calculating coverage.

"We're confident that we have the biggest 3G network in the UK, both in terms of geographic and population coverage, built on a 9192 site network that grows by around 150 sites each week", says 3.

"But it's no surprise consumers are being confused about coverage. Right now each operator chooses a population coverage measurement that suits it. We currently claim 92% coverage. We could use a measure used elsewhere in the industry that would boost our claimed population coverage to 95% in an instant, without reaching a single extra customer".

"We're happy to open up our network to a third-party to judge. We"d like to see a common standard applied across the industry, to give consumers a more realistic picture of 3G coverage available to UK consumers on all networks".

Tags: Phones Mobile phones 3 Orange iPhone Mobile phone industry Advertising Ofcom ASA 3G

3 calls foul over Orange 3G coverage claims on iPhone launch day originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:20:35 +0000

People getting secondary TV sets hooked up to Freeview has led to a new high for digital television in the UK, reports Ofcom.

The regulator's Digital TV Progress Report reveals that 80% of all televisions in the UK are now digitally-enabled.

23.4 million "secondary" sets were converted to digital, while nine out of ten main television sets are now connected to a digital decoder.

The Borders area, the West Country and south and west Wales are now switched over to digital with the rest of the UK due to switch before the end of 2012.

Today sees a digital "retune" that means consumers will need to retune their set-top boxes in order to continue receiving digital TV.

Read

Related links:

• Feature - Quick guide to the Freeview retune on 30 September

Tags: Home Cinema Televisions Freeview Statistics Ofcom

80% of UK televisions now digital originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:22:02 +0100